Sorry about that TKD Guy. It's a shame when you get as far up the ranks as you did, but I think your reasons were good. Alot of people would have just stayed there. Btw, how old was the 'youngest BB in the country?'
hence why i quit... people ask me why i quit so close to black belt and my answer is always 'would it of made any difference?' i have always wanted to be a black belt since i was a kid but it meant ignoring my own integrity. I could of said 'i'm a black belt' a few times and a few people would be impressed. but.... it would of been a mickey mouse belt and even people here at MAP would of said WTF. (of course the association kick chick :Angel: ) members at the club dont really congratulate you as they know belts are handed out like candy.
where's adMG these days? hey ad, why is the server so frikin slow? hasn't the whip around bought a new server yet or just a boob job for someone's mrs?
After decades of cross training with arguably some of the best fighters and instructors out there, my opinion is find the best instructor and school available to you. Style matters very little. I have seen TKD schools where the more dedicated students would smoke the majority of BJJ or MT practitioners of equivalent experience (before all the nuthuggers jump in, keep in mind that I train in and teach both systems as part of our MMA cirriculum) and I have seen the opposite (I admit I have seen much more of this : ). There are better training methods used by some schools than others and there are definitely instructors that can bring the best out of you better than others can. I recommend finding a school and instructor that can help you achieve your goals and then get to work. Personally, I really believe the schools ("McDojos", though I really hate that term. Many posters will call a school that for being well organized and professionally run. Or doing anything different than their school does it.) that lower their standards are really just shooting themselves in the foot. As a school owner, the quality of my "product" is the quality of my advanced students, especially my black belts. If I don't put out a top quality "product", what is the value of it? It MAY help your bottom line in the short run, but at the expense of any long term success of your business or your reputation.
To buck what may be a trend, my ITA school is starting to implement pre-testing qualifiers. These will involve demonstrating TKD skills and forms up to your rank, as well as physical conditioning to include running a mile, 100 sit-ups and 100 press-ups. My instructor has trained with Ernie Reyes, and is trying to establish the same type of testing requirements he does at West Coast Martial Arts. I looked for the reference on the youngest black belt, and couldn't find anything using Google. Our five year olds are "Tiger Cubs", and not even working toward white belt yet.
http://www.thenews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=456&ArticleID=754311 hope this clarifies things... he was 6yrs old, not 5
Kwan Jang - now I see your screen name is not for nothing. You know what is valauable to the school (yourself, quality of students' performance, brand/reputation) therefore who are the true assets (other than yourself). I salute you, dude. Um, or should I call you sir?
First off TaekwondoGuy, I'm glad you're happy with your decision to leave the ITA. It seems like that was the right decision for you right now. Secondly I agree with you about the 6 year old BB. What's next 8 year old Masters? Probably. The point I want to make is really to others that may feel frustrated from time to time in their progression up the ranks. TKD is not a team sport. If the guy next to me is flying through the ranks, actually I feel sorry for him. I'd rather own the skill set required for any belt level, then I would to cram and get by on testing. I've seen BB's where I train that I personally felt shouldn't have qualified, and I've seen Red Belts held back that should be 2nd Dan by now based on knowledge and skill, (IMHO of course ). All we as individuals can do is compare ourselves to our former selves. Am I better now than I was last month, last year, 5 years ago? You get the idea. Of course if you're not making gains with your training long term you MUST change schools/systems/styles/something. Just be sure you're changing for the right reasons, whatever those might be for you.
What about Junior Black Belts? Our club are starting to give Junior Black Belts to younger one's... it is not really a full Black Belt but they get to learn some of the Black Belt stuff... I think it is good in the way that they can continue to learn new stuff rather than being held back when they can take it.
Speaking only for myself, I have no problem with Junior BB's. I think kids need the motivation of moving up the ranks as much if not more than adults. My feeling is that if you're 6 years old and get your BB, you must re-take the BB exam at some predetermined age, (my preference being 15 or 16, the age when kids in the U.S. get a driver's license). The problem schools have is how do you hold onto a 6 year old BB for 9 or 10 more years? I doubt that you can honestly. But the problem is self inflicted, because the school has rushed the kid through the ranks too fast. And if you do it for little Johnny, than little Jimmy, Bobbie, Susie, and Wolfgang all want to get their BB after a year or two of training too. It sounds like a school's worst nightmare to me.
